No one expects the Vortex of Chaos. It's ice on the sidewalk three days before Christmas, the driver who knocks the door off your SUV, the surgery that dims your voice, the cancer treatments that leave your brain muddled for months. But like the accretion ring surrounding a black hole, the Vortex of Chaos is also the neon sign that says you're still in business, that you haven't given up, that you're not willing to take it lying down.
Chaos is Life.

Mittwoch, Februar 20, 2008

Spacetime around an isolated spherical non-rotating uncharged gravitating body is described by Schwarzschild Geometry, in which spacetime can be thought of as being bent by the presence of mass. This creates a gravity well which extends to the surface of the body or, in the case of a black hole, to oblivion. by John Walker at Fourmilab

I was not actually trying to create a wormhole to oblivion. What I was trying to do was combine that one cute baby hat with a non-reversible stitch pattern I saw on the Monica Knits Victorian Swag sock.

So I started the baby cap at the top.

Someone else probably could have gotten this to work. This would have been a person who

a) uses the right size needles (I used #1 instead of #3);

b) can remember to increase every every other row instead of randomly whenver the fit strikes;

c) is knitting the hat for an actual baby, rather than a 3-year-old, on whom it will look silly

d) and understands that this pattern depends on being able to increase and decrease at key points in every row, which is not a feature of the Victorian Swag design.

So this project ended up frogged to oblivion. It is a very cute yarn, "I Want Candy," the sock club offering Georgia aka Yarn Pirate cooked up right before having her very cute (and very large) baby.

But it is too pink for me, so it will have to be knitted into something for Miss P&P. Merino/tencel is so cute and shiny. I will have to think about it.

Say, on another front, one of my former piano students, a teenage boy named Taylor, came over and played a piece for me that he had tried to learn for a year while studying with me. In just three months with the new teacher he had it mastered, including the key change part. I asked him what the new teacher does that I don't to make him practice and make progress.

Taylor said that the new teacher gets very disappointed when students don't practice, kind of cold and stiff.

Huh. I get disappointed when the students don't practice. But I don't do cold and stiff, and I don't do angry. I just cannot rip a little kid to shreds because they only practiced one time.

But I am thinking of shooting off a letter to all the parents of once-a-week practicers and letting them know that their kid might do better with a meaner, colder, stiffer teacher. What do you think?

Dienstag, Februar 19, 2008

In the last set of dyer's notes from Tina Newton, she mentioned she had dreamed that Rockin' Sock Club members would knit the longest sock knitted by the most people ever.

So we're going to try.

Say, how's this for creativity: I scanned it! New camera coming today--may trade with Paul if I think it's too bulky.

I know, I know, it looks pitiful now, but it will grow. I don't think Tina cares if it ever becomes Guinness World Records-ready anyway. The sock is going to Stitches West on Friday, and has a date at Camp Crow's Feet (Rockin' Sock Club Camp) in April. And then Missmalice will fly it to Wonderwool Wales so it can make the rounds of UK STR fans.

In between shows the sock will go where it's requested. The only rules are:

Must be knitted in STR; you can use your own or the ball it comes withEach person knits 6 rows (What you see above is a toe plus six rows)Sock must be forwarded with its needles in it--Leslie, I just added that ruleYour progress should be photodocumented (Leslie, I'm good at making new rules)

My only worry is that there is no way to back up something like this. I would never send away an important document without a photocopy. But somehow I think it would be hard to re-start the sock from a photo if it goes missing.

A couple of people have asked about the pink or raspberry yarn with lime green shot through it that was in my stash photos. It's "Alice's Garden" from the White Willow Etsy site. And the brown and black and two dark reds in the next-to-last photo are Wollmeise, from left Zenzi medium, Zenzi dark, Brombeere Medium and Granatapfel Dark.

ETA: Celia asked me this morning why someone who has had dogs as long as we have would still leave a camera out on a desk where a dog can reach it. There really isn't an answer.

I just think if I give Trusty enough chew toys and throw his ball enough times that he will leave my stuff alone.

I tell myself that he will outgrow rampant chewing--he's nearly two, after all.

And sometimes I just think he won't notice things, like the pink silk Lantern Moon project bag I bought yesterday at The Needlepoint Joint. It was still in the bag, I hadn't put a project in it yet.

Notice I am saying WAS.

They had a replacement one at Knit-Purl. They also had a bunch of other stuff including a Hannah Falkenburg baby sweater that went in and out of the cart four times before I finally decided I had to have it. Stress shopping. Healthier than stress eating, but more expensive.

Probably will also run up to Ogden to get buttons for Misha's tulip cardi but cannot photo it for you due to . . . I mentioned my camera was chewed up yesterday, right? The owner of this dog, as in "the real owner," not as in "the innocent, bystanding, wasn't-quite-ready-for-another-yarn-chewing-camera-crunching-slime-factory-yet co-owner" is buying me a new camera. It will arrive from Amazon.com tomorrow.

We are not banishing Trusty. I've grown accustomed to his face. Besides, I have a drawer to keep the new camera in.

Freitag, Februar 15, 2008

I was looking for buttons. I didn't find the buttons but I photo'd my sock yarn stash as I looked. Here they are. The raw, unretouched photos. Like I said, this is going to be ugly. These are on Flickr; click for big

There is yarn in bins.

There is yarn in bags.

Some is in closets.

Some is in heaps.

Some is just stashed in corners until I figure out what to do with it.

Did I mention this is just the sock yarn?

I know, it's a terrible way to live. My yarn and sewing used to be well-organized. I can do it again. I WILL do it again! YES!

These club offerings came on the same day. The Yarn Pirate, called "I Want Candy," is saved from being too cute by having a bit of black--a pirateish trademark. The Loopy Ewe one is from Yarntini and is called Refresh. They are both merino/tencel 50-50. It's pretty tempting to use them together in something. It could come out looking like Easter Eggs, or it could come out looking like dreck. You never know.

Self-insight moment: I realized recently that part of the reason I start a lot of things and don't finish them--sometimes ever, sometimes not for a long time--is because I want to see what will happen if I do this. It might be a pattern I want to try, and it might be a yarn I want to look at.

I feel good about this. It brings new meaning to my stash, my WIPs, and my sleepers.

Someone on Ravelry wanted to buy this yarn off me. I hated to just say no, so I wound the yarn and printed out the pattern so I could tell her honestly that I was using it. But I'm waiting for appropriate needles. I have #0 woods in there, and I have a set of #0 metals I could use, but I want to knit them simultaneously. I know from experience that those needles are not the same size.

I had a caliper but Trusty has done something with it. Trusty did something to this yarn, too:

Anyway, the other startup:

This is Kate Gilbert's Clapotis in Wollmeise Vincent (Mittel). I have been intrigued with Clapotis because the stripe pattern in a handpaint yarn goes at right angles to the dropped stitches, and both are on the diagonal to the actual length of the scarf. I think Kate Gilbert is a structural genius. Look at her double-sided cables on Arwen.

I sort of wish I had put two stitches in each area to be dropped, because at this gauge the ladders will be quite skinny, but I am not going to start over. We'll see how it turns out.

Did you know there is a sneaky way to get Wollmeise? I shouldn't even mention this, probably, but you're my friend so I am telling you. It comes in Yarnissima kits:

Sonntag, Februar 03, 2008

1) I keep all my photos on the PC, and we decided to replace it after it had to be restored back to infancy to get rid of the virus. The backup worked so I didn't lose anything, but there is no useful software on the new PC.

This includes Windows Vista. Maybe I will get used to it.

Celia is getting the old computer for her work. She is a realtor now, for those who still think she works at a bank or investment firm.

2) I have great photos of the stove blowing up Sunday a week ago--not the actual moment with sparks flying halfway across the kitchen, since right then we were busy turning off the electricity, but the melted stove element and the 1/8" thick pan with a 1/4" hole arc-welded all the way through it by said stove element.

This resulted in emergency cooktop shopping that took up a lot of time. When I get the software back on the PC I will show you.

I know, I could do it on the mac, but it hasn't got a very big hard drive, see 1)

3) I spent a great deal of time getting ready for the second half of the toe-up sock class I taught at Hemstitched Heirlooms in North Salt Lake. This included

a) trying to fix the old computer,

b) deciding I couldn't do it,

c) resetting it to above-mentioned brainless infancy,

d) being forcibly reminded that I should be more organized when I get printers, wireless internet cards, etc. and not lose their driver disks,

ii) and going for ice cream after the class, which is also not on my diet. Either diet.

I gave you that Zapp's link for a reason. Go to the Zapp's site and order potato chips. Order Cajun Crawtators if you like Cajun food. Order something else if you don't. They are the best potato chips!

4) Now I will be tied up getting the new PC to do the useful things I am used to having my PC do.

Knitting News--there is some.

The Mardi Gras socks will be for next year; I picked a fiddly pattern, had to frog because my gauge was off, etc. I went with the Heather because in the end that great purple won out.

I like the diamond pattern because it seems sort of carnival- and costume-ish.

Misha's Tulip Cardigan (size 3) seems to be working out.

I bought two Sundara yarns that are so gorgeous I can hardly stand it. Photos later, see 1)

I finished my December STR socks but refuse to start either my own personal Lenores or the January sock until I finish my Christmas knitting--three rows to go, Jeanne.